Hollow glass articles, such as bottles and jars, when molded by a forming machine of the I.S. type, are molded in two steps. In the first step, a preform of the finished container, namely an article with a closed end and an open end, which is usually called a blank or a parison, is molded by an annular mold that is made up of a pair of mating blank mold sections. Upon a completion of the blank molding step, the blank mold sections separate, and the blank or parison is transferred to another mold station, often called the blow mold station, where it is blown annular mold that is made up of another mating pair of mold sections. At the conclusion of the blow mold process, the mating sections of the blow mold are separated, and the container is removed from the forming machine for further processing.
Parisons are formed in the blank mold of an I.S. machine, either by blowing or pressing, in an inverted orientation, that is, with its open end down, and the gob from which the parison is to be formed is introduced into the blank mold through an opening at the top of the blank mold. After the gob is in place, the opening at the top of the blank mold is closed by a baffle; which is moveable into and out of alignment with the opening at the top of the blank mold. The blank molding operation occurs while the baffle is in its closing position with respect to the blank mold. The use of a set of four baffles to close the blank molds of an I.S. machine in which four containers are simultaneously formed at each I.S. machine section ("a quad" machine) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,821 (Irwin et al.). which is assigned to the assignee of this application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
It is also known to provide a funnel that is indexed into and out of alignment with an opening into a blank mold for the gob to pass through immediately before it enters the blank mold. U.S. Pat. No. 3,672.860 (Keller), the disclosure of which is also incorporated by reference herein, discloses such a funnel for the purpose of imparting a non-round shape to the gob, which otherwise would inherently be round, as a step in the forming of non-round containers, such as flasks, from such gobs. As is clear from the '860 reference, the axial length of the funnel disclosed therein is substantially shorter than the axial length of the gobs passing therethrough. Thus, it is possible for gobs entering blank molds of a forming machine according to the teachings of the '860 patent to have their longitudinal central axes out of alignment with the longitudinal central axis of the blank mold. Because of this, it is known to periodically swab the interior of a blank mold with a mold dope composition to provide suitable lubrication between the gob and the mold for proper orientation therebetween during the forming of a parison from a gob. The use of such a mold doping technique is labor intensive, and it is messy and otherwise objectionable, and it is highly desirable to eliminate, or at least substantially reduce, the need for such mold doping.